Little Pink Box
by TheStarshipCat
Summary: Raven helps Beast Boy get over Terra's death with a method that has helped her hide her own feelings for a while... And the power's out, adding extra sexual tension. One-sided BBRae in Raven's POV. Rated for a few swears.


**A/N**: Crank the sexual tension meter up to eleven! Or at least four. Set in the time between Terra's petrification and her coming back. Quick little one-shot, R&amp;R please!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Teen Titans, six season pleads to those who do... and I don't own My Darling Clementine, either.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

**Little Pink Box**

It was another rainy night in the Titans Tower spent alone. Robin and Star were out for a movie, Cyborg was on a date, and Beast Boy... well, I guess I hadn't seen him leave the Tower. Maybe he won't notice I'm here, and he could just stay in his room and sulk. That's all he does anymore, and all due to the death... excuse me, _petrification_ of Terra. The rest of the team knew she was dead, but we wouldn't dare say it around him. Well, at least they wouldn't. I've told him many times that she's not coming back, only to get a lecture from Robin or even somehow ending up feeling bad about what I said. The other Titans don't feel the sadness and anger radiating off of him. They can't sense that he has nightmares, and that they all stem from this problem with Terra.

But if he doesn't speak up, nothing will change. I can't help people get over their problems like Robin or Star can. He hides behind his happy demeanor, going about his day like nothing ever could bring him down. That was something we could both do, though my demeanor was an emotionless face which covered even the happiest of thoughts. But when he is alone - or at least thinks he is alone, he breaks down crying or lashes out and rips up his bedsheets. I only wish he would get over it.

"Oh, hey Raven."

Speak of the devil. I whipped around, pulling my hood up.

"I thought you went out." I lied.

"Nah, I kind of wanted to just chill. See, you wouldn't understand. I actually go out to parties and stuff, so I have to take a day off to prepare myself for some huge blowout the next day." He said nonchalantly, opening the fridge. He made some sort of tofu concoction and shoved it into his mouth.

I opened the book on my lap and acted like I didn't care. Just one of the masks I slipped on, the one that his how much I really cared about Beast Boy, about all the Titans. He peered over my shoulder at the book I had.

"Whatcha got there, Rae?" He said with his mouth full, a piece of stray tofu hitting my face.

I wiped my face angrily and didn't turn to face him. "My name is Raven. And it's a book, which you would know if you actually read once in a while."

"I know it's a book, I mean what's it called?" He said like I should know the real meaning behind all dumb questions.

"How about you read it for yourself?" I snarled, throwing the book at him.

"Ew!" he yelled. He dropped it like it was some sort of armed time bomb.

"Just leave me alone." I snapped. I sighed heavily, maybe just to be overdramatic, and picked up the book. All of a sudden, a clap of thunder and the power was out. I looked up like I expected the lights to come on while I gave them a death glare. Without any electric, all I heard was the heavy pitter patter of the rain. I looked around, no sign of the changeling.

"Beast Boy?" I questioned to the open air.

"Meow?" Something responded. I looked down, a green cat clinging to my legs.

"Beast Boy!" I yelled, flinging him off my leg and across the room. He landed with a soft thud before shifting back to human form.

He brushed himself off. "Jeez, Rae! You would fling an adorable kitten across the room? What kind of person are you?" He panted, seemingly in shock.

"How did I not notice you? And what the hell were you doing on my leg in the first place? And my name is Raven!" I yelled.

"I was just startled when the power went off! I wasn't expecting it, and, I don't know, cats seem like they're always safe. And, uh, so does your leg? Uh... I'm sorry, please don't kill me!" He tried to give me some sort of excuse, mostly just a jumble of words.

"Beast Boy, just... never mind. You'll never listen anyway, so I don't care what you do." I sat back down on the couch and opened my book. I stared at it, even though it was too dark to make anything out. He went and sat at the kitchen table, which unfortunately was in my line of sight. He looked up and smiled, and I just glared back. His smile faded as he put his head down. It was now peacefully silent. But, knowing Beast Boy, it only lasted about two minutes.

"Isn't the generator gonna turn on? It's so dark!" Beast Boy whined.

"I don't know. Maybe you have to turn it on yourself or something." I said, staring blankly at my book.

"Ugh. I don't understand technology. I wish Cyborg was here."

"Well, you could either sit here and whine or you could do something about it. And I don't recommend the former."

"Whatever, I'm not going down to the basement to turn it on, but I think there's some candles in the storage room." He stood and paused, looking at me expectantly. I remained on the couch. "Oh no, Raven, you don't need to move. I'll delve into the dark hallways without any light source, and you can just stay there with your little crown on your head." He said sarcastically. "Be back in a jiffy."

"Well I could phase to my room and... get some." He had already walked out. What seemed like an extremely long 'jiffy', he returned with two candles and a menorah. I looked at him strangely.

"Don't ask." He said. Maybe Robin led a secretly Jewish lifestyle. I brushed off that thought as he placed the candles on the coffee table in front of me and sat down beside me. I gave him another glare until he moved to the opposite side of the couch.

"Are you going to light those?" I said, not looking at him.

"Oh, yeah." He reached into his pocket and grabbed a lighter. He fuddled with it for a minute, trying to get it to light.

"Do you need help?" I asked sarcastically. He handed me the lighter shamefully. I had all of the candles lit in a few seconds.

"Always gotta show me up, Rae."

"Raven." I turned to him. He does this just to annoy me, I know it. I looked at his face in the light. There wasn't much, and I could only make out some of his features, but I could see that his eyes were red. "Beast Boy... have you been crying?" I asked. "You're eyes look swelled."

"What? No! I just... you know how animals attract bugs. One got into my eye." He swatted the air nervously.

"Okay, that terrible lie has gotten you nowhere. Now if I could just have one guess... hmm, let me think... is it because of Terra?"

"Shut up." He huffed, crossing his arms. "I just saw this picture of her in the storage room, and..." he turned his head to the side, so he thought I couldn't see him cry again. "I just thought of all the great times with her." He said between short breaths. "How awesome she was."

"Yeah, like when she betrayed us. Or tried to murder us. Or used my own emotions against me. She lied to you, to all of us, so why can't you get over it? It's been, what, three months? How you can't get over someone who tried to kill us is beyond me!"

"You don't understand, Raven!" He screamed. It was almost scary. A lightbulb somewhere above me shattered from the pure energy I felt from him. He took a few deep breaths. "You don't understand. I... I don't even understand anymore." He paused again. "Raven, have you ever been in love?"

Somewhere, another lightbulb shattered. I was taken aback by what he said. My emotions told me that I should not answer that question. I could try to stall him. "No, I've been a bartender all my life." I said dryly. He looked confused. "It's a line from a movie. My Darling Clementine?" He still was dumbfounded. "It's humor, Beast Boy."

He paused for a minute before he burst out laughing. "You... you just made a joke that's not sarcasm!" He laughed.

"Shut up! Or do you want to find that menorah lodged in some very unwelcome places?" I said intimidatingly.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." He said, still laughing.

Now's my chance to get off the subject. "You were talking about Terra?" I said. Damn. My mind didn't want to talk about Terra, but my mouth had thought otherwise.

He paused. "No, don't change the subject. Answer my question. Have you ever been in love?"

I sighed. "Not to my recollection, no."

"Not even with Malchior?" He asked very carefully.

"Of course not, Beast Boy. You know that. Seducing me was just part of his plan. That doesn't mean I wasn't devastated when I found out he lied to me. But I was not in love with him." I said. I never thought any of the Titans would ever have the courage to ask me that.

"Oh, well... I just wanted another opinion on love." He said.

"Are you saying that you were in love with her?" I said, a slight tinge of anger in my voice.

"That's what I wanted to know. I was just thinking-"

"Oh, that's what that burning tire smell is." I cut in.

He huffed. "I wanted to know what it felt like for you to be in love."

Why would he want to know something about my feelings? I gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I... well, when Terra was still around, I kind of confronted Robin and asked what he felt when he looked at Starfire. I mean, because anyone can tell that he loves her, he follows her everywhere. If she wasn't an alien they'd probably be married by now... But anyway, he said that he gets a bubbly feeling in the pit of his stomach. That he couldn't help but smile."

"And did you feel that when you saw Terra?" I asked.

"Well... no, I don't think so. I was happy, happier than I've ever been. But I don't think I felt what Robin has. But... I don't know, Raven."

"I think I could help you." Damn it, why did I say that?

"Maybe you could. Thanks, Raven. I never thought that I would get help from you."

Great. I need to keep my mouth shut next time. I guess there was no getting out of this now.

"I think we're going to have to get analytical. You know what that means, don't you?"

"Yeah, Raven, I'm not that dumb. So go ahead, analytical me."

I rolled my eyes. "So you liked Terra." I said, stating the obvious.

"It was definitely more than like."

"And you're not sure if it was love. So you're somewhere in the between." I paused. "I'm going to say that you were infatuated."

"Infatuated?"

"Definitely. From your empty head to your feet."

"No, no, no. To my knees, maybe."

"Knees?"

"Definitely knees."

"Alright. So now you know that you were, in fact, not in love with Terra. But now that you know that, what can you do about it?"

"What can I do about it? She's gone. Dead."

I was slightly shocked by that. Was he finally getting over her? "You can't be sure of that, Beast Boy." But I was sure. Terra wouldn't be coming back. But I couldn't tell him that.

"We've tried everything, Raven! She's never coming back, and you know it. Stop lying to me." He said.

I sighed. "I'm sorry, Beast Boy. I really am. I know you want Terra back, but I've looked in my books. We did everything we could. But I don't think that you should give up." I said. Maybe one day she could come back, and he could be happy.

"No, Raven! I can't sit here, wasting my life waiting for a knee-deep infatuation that may or may not ever show up again! What would you do, Raven? You're at the happiest point in your life, and then it's just taken out from under you. I wasn't ready for it to be taken away from me, Rae! You've gotta give me an answer!" He slammed his fist against the back of the couch.

There was that anger again. I decided I could let the annoying nickname slide, just this once. He took a few more deep breaths. "You know what I do when I have feelings I know I can't have, that I _shouldn't_ have?"

"What?" He turned to me, crying again.

"I lock them away. In my little pink box. And I attempt to never think of them again. It may not work all the time, but it helps. And I think it could be just the thing to help you get over her."

"So, what? I get some pink box, with rainbows and unicorns all over it, and pretend like my feelings for Terra never existed?"

"Nah, yours can be gun metal gray." I said, adding a smile so rarely seen by him. It made him calm down a little.

"I think that could work." he said.

We sat there for another few minutes in the darkness of the Tower, silent. It was really peaceful, to barely be able to see anything but still able to sense his presence sitting beside me. It made me feel safe. I was about to go make some tea when he grabbed my arm.

"Raven, are you ever going to tell me what's in your little pink box?"

My smile widened. "You know, sometimes, Beast Boy..." I leaned in closer to him, touching his cheek lightly as a tear rolled down my own. Another lightbulb shattered. I had nothing to say in this moment, no witty remarks. I just stared at him, a longing feeling I felt in the pit of my stomach. I pulled closer, before realizing what I was doing and pulling back.

"Ignorance is bliss."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry for slight Raven bullying, but hey, rain before the rainbow, right? And I know, cheesy ending, but I couldn't bring myself to change it. I appreciate your feedback!


End file.
